


from the town with the ash trees

by c_lifford



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: AU, Lashton centric, M/M, This is mainly set on a beach at three am make of that what you will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-16 15:04:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2274291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c_lifford/pseuds/c_lifford
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>summer has stolen the fire from luke's eyes. they meet on a beach at three thirty in the morning, and luke feels like maybe he can breathe again</p>
            </blockquote>





	from the town with the ash trees

**Author's Note:**

> dedicated to the lovely maddy for putting up with my ridiculous drafts that probably made no sense
> 
> i hope you enjoy !

_Ashton [noun]; From the town with ash trees_

 

_Luke [noun]; Light, illumination_

 

Luke is nineteen years old, it is the middle of summer, and everything feels wrong. The summer has stolen the light from his eyes and the shine from his hair, leaving him dull and empty. Too many nights spent around bonfires on the beach have left him feeling as though he’s surrounded in a permanent smoke haze, drifting aimlessly. Sometimes he doesn’t even feel like he’s _there_ , really, as if he’s just looking at the world from behind a pair of eyes. It feels like this summer could well be the beginning of his end, like he might just keep drifting forever. Sometimes it gets hard to breathe, and Luke feels like he’s drowning.

 

It begins one summer evening when the stars are too bright and the night too warm for him to sleep. Keeping his footfalls quiet so as not to wake up his roommate, he slips on some clothes and a jacket before heading out the door. 

 

Out on the street, it’s eerily quiet. Their flat isn’t in the middle of town, so there are no late night partygoers, no desperate teenagers sneaking out. Luke can hear the sound of the ocean faintly, and starts walking toward the beach almost immediately. It’s as if he’s drawn there, almost like something important, something that can’t be missed, is about to happen.

 

Taking off his shoes, Luke walks down the narrow, sandy track for a few minutes. He’s moving slowly, because if you can’t take your time at this time of the night, when can you? The beach is just as silent as the streets were, only the sound of incoming waves impeding on the otherwise constant silence. Luke sits down on the sand, half closing his eyes. It’s nice out here, and he feels somehow smaller, like none of his problems could possibly exist on the beach, when the stars feel so close that he could almost touch them.

 

It’s so silent, so serene, that the feeling of a hand brushing against his shoulder startles him, almost making him leap into the air.   
  
‘Are you okay?’ The voice is unfamiliar, the Australian accent thicker than his own. The boy who posed the question has sandy coloured curls which seem almost golden in the moonlight, and he wears a concerned expression, like Luke’s sick or something. He's never seen the boy before, he's sure of that because he wouldn't forget eyes like that anywhere. Maybe he's from the town with the ash trees, Luke thinks, a wry smile on his face. It's a long running joke in their city, that the dead end roads out west all lead to the same town- Ash Tree Town, no less.

 

‘Aside from you almost giving me a fucking heart attack, I’m great.’ Luke can’t keep the sarcasm out of his tone, but the other boy doesn’t seem to mind, his laugh easy and loud, lighting up the darkness in a way that Luke can’t begin to comprehend.

 

‘Alright then mate, you’re not drunk or anything? Like, I don’t mean to be rude or anything but it’s half past three in the morning.’ Despite the smile now gracing his features, the boy still looks very concerned, and Luke takes a moment to process what he’s being asked.

 

‘Drunk? No, just thinking. I couldn’t sleep.’ Luke’s aware of how weird that sounds, although at three thirty in the morning there aren’t many people who decide to come down to the beach. Most people who can’t sleep just read a book or something, rather than walking through the darkness alone.

 

His thoughts are interrupted by the other boy sitting down on the sand next to him, offering him his hand. Luke stares at it for a moment before shaking it tentatively, thankful that his hands aren’t clammy.

 

‘I’m Ashton, by the way.’ The name suits him, the wild curls and dimpled smiles seem like they couldn’t belong to anyone else. Luke’s known this boy for all of five minutes and he already feels like he’s swimming towards the surface. The drowning feeling has subsided, just a little bit.

 

‘Luke.’ It makes his heart ache slightly, seeing how Ashton’s lips silently form the word as soon as Luke’s said it, and he wonders how his name would sound rolling off of Ashton’s tongue. ‘What brings you here?’

 

Ashton frowns slightly before answering, taking a moment to run a handful of sand through his fingers. Luke follows the motion almost subconsciously with his eyes, not wanting to miss anything he does. Ashton already seems like someone special, someone who could be important to Luke, somehow.

 

‘I needed to get away, the lights were too bright.’ Ashton’s voice is no louder than a whisper, so soft that Luke wants to close his eyes, and he would if it didn't mean not being able to see Ashton anymore. He doesn’t even know Ashton, doesn’t know anything about him, but he wants to. He wants to know what side of the bed Ashton sleeps on and what songs make him cry and what cereal he likes for breakfast. It feels like he’s reaching out to touch the sun, and it’s three thirty in the morning but Luke feels like maybe it could be more than just now. There’s a small quivering in his chest, and he feels like there’s a little bubble at the back of his throat, stopping him from swallowing. It’s like Ashton has given him some sort of new energy, and Luke will be damned if he doesn’t want to sprint into the waves as fast as he can, yelling nonsense at the top of his voice because nobody but Ashton is awake to hear him.

 

They sit in near silence for another few hours, occasionally talking about whatever comes to mind. Usually, Luke hates silence, but this is somehow comfortable and not awkward.

 

They leave when the sun rises, Luke standing up first and holding out a hand to help Ashton to his feet. It feels right, them walking up the beach together in silence. Luke doesn’t realise he’s still holding Ashton’s hand until they have to go their separate ways.

 

+++

 

It’s been almost two months since he sat on the beach with Ashton at three thirty in the morning and Luke is starting to wonder if he imagined the entire thing. He’s wondering if there was anything there at all, the only evidence that it even happened being the sand on their carpet the next morning. He feels slightly less suffocated now, his breathing has seemed easier since that night at the beach. Sometimes he wonders what it would be like if he saw Ashton again, if maybe he wouldn’t be so empty anymore.

 

Even if it did happen, and they saw each other again, Luke knows he doesn’t deserve someone like him. Ashton is golden, commanding and the kind of person who doesn’t seem out of place even on a beach at three in the morning. He asked if Luke was okay before he even introduced himself, for gods’ sake. Luke sees himself as sharper edges, pushed back hair an attempt to make up for his dull eyes. They were brighter once, before the summer. But the hot days and the hot tears stole the light from his eyes and the flush from his cheeks, and now he feels empty most of the time.

 

The night with Ashton was the only normal one in the entire summer, which is saying something since sitting on the beach with a stranger at midnight is hardly normal. And yet, it seemed like something that had happened every night for as long as Luke could remember. They didn’t do anything more than talk, and yet Ashton has been stuck in his mind ever since. 

 

When Luke told his roommate, Michael, what happened, he was met with fond laughter.

 

‘Mate, you should see yourself. You look like Calum does when he sees a puppy.’ Luke knows that Michael’s right. He’s stupidly besotted with the golden stranger (can he even call him that after they talked in whispers at three in the morning?) and he doesn’t even know a thing about him.

 

It’s moving into winter now, and Luke feels the chill right down to his bones. He’s sitting on a park bench by himself, thinking about everything the summer stole from him and everything the winter might give back.

 

When someone sits down beside him on the cold bench, handing him a takeaway cup of hot chocolate, Luke figures they got the wrong person. He turns his head to explain that he’s not the guy they’re looking for, only to be met with a pair of golden eyes. They’re the same eyes, incidentally, which have been on Luke’s mind for the last two months. And, well.

 

Ashton looks even better in the daylight, if that’s possible. His sandy curls are mostly hidden beneath a grey beanie, and there’s a scarf wrapped around his neck. His breath is coming out white in the cold air, and he looks like he belongs here too, on the park bench with Luke.

 

There’s silence for a moment, and then Luke says ‘Thanks for the hot chocolate.’

 

The smile Ashton gives him in return almost makes him forget that it’s the middle of winter, he feels warm right to the core. It’s like there’s a light surrounding them, and Luke thinks maybe it comes from him.

 

When Ashton smiles at him and starts a conversation about the band on Luke’s t-shirt, he realises that there’s no drowning feeling anymore. It’s freezing cold on the bench, the frost making the park look silvery in the early morning light, and Luke thinks that whatever the summer stole from him, Ashton has somehow given back.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it! please leave a comment/give kudos, you don't have to have an account to do either :)
> 
> my tumblr is sassqueenmikey if you wanna follow me/cry about lashton together


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